Monthly Archives: June 2015

Well, as you can see, the answer to my “Should I?” post from a few days ago is that…I did. At least the TRF102.

The TRF102 is the first modern F1 chassis I have built. The last F1 kit I built was the F103 15th anniversary kit. I have no experience of the TRF101 or the F104, and having not followed the class very close, you’ll have to excuse and correct me where I go wrong. 🙂

Not the best photos this time but they will have to do considering the circumstances 🙂

As usual first a look at the lower deck, and some of the other carbon pieces. The lower deck is 2.5mm thick carbon fibre and fairly flexible due to the design of the cutouts – very much an aim of the TRF102 chassis. The lower brace is logically the same material and thickness. Of the other parts seen in this picture, the rear middle deck is 3.0mm thick while the rear bulkhead plate is made from 2.0mm carbon fibre. Two T-bars are included – 1.5mm and 1.8mm in thickness.

As always on a TRF kit the quality and finish of the alu parts is excellent. The rear hinge cover now fitted to the T-bar – a fairly unique feature of the TRF102 kit. I used the thinner 1.5mm bar to start with.

The rear middle deck now attached securing the roll point ball in the middle while mounted to solid alu posts in the corners. Ball connector attached to where the roll damper will later be mounted.

Here you can see how the rear hinge is constructed. The hinge action is done by these fluorine coated flanged spacers.

With the rear hinge completed you can see that the shaft is secured by e-clips either end while two grub screws in the rear hinge cover fix the shaft. I found I needed to add one 0.1mm shim here to remove almost all side play, as I imagine that is something you absolutely don’t want here. With the shim added there is minimum play but the hinge system is still super free.

Motor mounts left and right fitted to the lower brace. Up to TRF standards as you would expect. The left mount has mounting holes for a 25mm fan while the TRF logo etched is the final touch.

Bulkhead plate and rear wing alu posts added. There are three different height mounting holes for the wing mounts.

The unique rear end seen from below.

After years of only building gear diffs it was time to remember the old ball diff tricks again. The result was satisfactory so the TRF102 diff is a good one. It uses TRF417 diff plates and a 96T spur gear with 12 3mm diff balls. Tungsten diff balls included! Quality parts throughout the rear axle and diff, while many different ride height options are available.

The front end is very much like F104, as opposed to the carbon front end on the TRF101. The carbon front end set is available as an option, but from what I have heard, the 104 style front end worked better in most condtions and that’s why you get it in the 102 kit.

The front arms are a specific TRF102 part number, although I believe the mould is the same as the F104 pieces. But the material I believe is different in that it is stiffer. Someone correct me if I’m wrong here. The F104 Adjustable Metal Upright Set (Item 54357) is included. The alu servo mounts are new as well as the carbon servo stiffener you can see here. A low-profile servo is recommended but a full-size servo can be used, although that means you have to use included plastic parts in place of the nice alu servo mounts.

Soft (silver) front springs are the basic setting, but medium (gold), and hard (black) springs are also included. The front end is secured with 4x30mm titanium screws with a 2.5mm hex head.

A normal TRF damper (10mm, not the new larger bore) is included together with a silver spring. The roll damper gets low friction (grey) adjuster and hard Tamiya friction damper grease is included for the build.

Roll damper mounted to the chassis.

The upper deck from below with the damper now attached. As you can see the upper deck mounting screws get small o-rings to hold them from falling out, easing assembly. Corresponding pockets are in the alu posts. Since the TRF102 has a floating battery system, the lipo battery is mounted to the upper deck. This means that the upper deck will be removed frequently, so it’s nice to see that the designer thought of this using the old o-ring trick to hold the screws.

Upper deck attached to the chassis giving us a completed chassis kit.

Overall a very pleasant build as you would expect from any TRF kit. The completed chassis is fairly flexible so the car should have good grip. The rear end is interesting and is a construction that feels right to me. As always the track will tell the truth…but I’ll leave that up to others to find out.

Maybe I will run the car one day, but don’t expect a track test anytime soon 😉
Enjoy your TRF102’s!

The TRF211XM chassis is a 2WD buggy that was born to race at the top level! Its lightweight and durable resin lower deck was specially produced to offer a highly-balanced blend of rigidity and flexibility that suits it to any surface. Rear rigidity is further enhanced by fastening the rear stiffener to the carbon-fiber battery stiffener, while big bore aeration dampers cushion the 4-wheel double wishbone suspension. Aluminum gearbox can be fitted with ball or gear diff units to further adapt the chassis to the surface.

This hi-spec 2WD R/C formula chassis assembly kit employs a rear T-bar suspension setup with roll point ball and pitch shaft for completely independent roll and pitch control, and superior road holding. The front of the car utilizes independent kingpin coil-sprung suspension, while the screw-attached servo is secured with an aluminum mount and carbon fiber bridge. Slits on either side of the new 2.5mm-thick carbon fiber lower deck enhance its flexibility, which is maximized by the float mounting of the battery on the 2.0mm-thick upper deck. This leads to greater suspension stroke for smooth and stable handling. The motor mount allows adjustment of rear wing height.